County Fair: 2022

Even though Rundy and Deborah live fairly close, we don't see them as often as we'd like, so the county fair is always a good excuse to spend the bulk of a sunny day with endearing little cousins. 

On our way down the midway, Annika quickly ducked into a tent and got distracted by cowboy hats. 

Then it was on to the tractors, a highlight for small boys.

 

And also for small girls! (Cadence and Aidan matching their outfits to their respective tractors was coincidental.)

Oh, dear. Look, it's another homeschool haircut.

At the fair, tractor-sitting is best followed by cow-watching, or-- in Annika's case-- cow-coveting.

Best buds.  (And unless Aidan starts growing, they'll soon be mistaken for twins.)

Cows make Annika happier than just about anything.

Off to look at and be frightened by other small mammals.

The annual stairstep picture, 2022! Looking back over the years, the number of people we now have to squeeze into the frame makes me happy. I am the luckiest girl.

We then walked through the rides before Deborah had to leave. Tadhg and Pippin fixated on the cars pretty quickly.

Here are too many pictures of them, but only because it was just as much fun to watch them riding as it was for them to ride. They were the happiest children at the fair!

Then Debbie went on the ferris wheel with the boys while I held Marnie.

Pip rode with Lark, and Millie sat with Cadence on the high swings. I was afraid Cadence would panic mid-flight, but she was a champ and grinned through the whole thing.

Elephant ears and selfie time were next on the docket.

Deborah came close to overheating, so a rest in shade was necessary. She was carrying Tessa on the inside and Marnie on the outside, with two little boys in tow. 

Remember how these steps in the grandstand terrified Cadence last year? Seeing Tadhg and Pippin tromp up them without a care in the world bolstered her to make the attempt. 

She looks like a grumpy duck, but that's just the face of a young girl conquering her fears. 

Oliphaunt ears!

...to be shared equally.  Ransom was the stickiest of fans. 

By the time we left the grandstand, I had to call Cadence down. What a girl!

On our way out, we caught a human cannonball act, which made me a bit sad. 

This couple used to perform their act in the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus, the very circus whose glory inflamed my youthful dreams for years, but with the slow demise of the American circus, they're now relegated to summer performances in front of a dozen people at the podunk county fair.

For their last hurrah, a few of the children used their own money to go on a second ride. Aidan confidently assured me that he was old enough to go on Cliff Hanger and that he would not be scared. I let him ride it. He was scared. After he disembarked, though, he told me he was going to go on it every single year! Direct quote: "It makes me shake because I'm scared, but then once I get used to it, I'm not scared anymore."

Cadence, Skylark, and I capped off our visit with a ride on the swings-- Cadence's second. She rode in a seat all by herself this time, swinging wide over the fair with all the elbow room she could desire. She loved it, but Lark wasn't too sure of herself, and once we were airborne, I remembered with astonishment that this wild ride swinging us sideways through the blue sky was the restful one I used to find so calming when I was younger. 

Yup. I'm old now.